Mass Effect: Purification
by gamefreek321
Summary: After Shepard dies Garrus returns to the Citadel to continue his spectre training, but ends up going to Omega. This is his story. May contain a small amount of coarse language. T for now. Potential spoilers for either mass effect game. Enjoy!
1. Prologue: Tragedy Strikes

Mass Effect: Purification

Author's Note: The title does mean something and this is just a prologue to the actual story and retells the events of Mass Effect 2, or at least the opening. Spoilers for whoever hasn't played Mass Effect 2 yet. The story focuses on Garrus by the way.

**Prologue: Tragedy Strikes**

The vast wasteland of space erupted as the Normandy ripped through though the very fabric of time and space. The Normandy's FTL drive slowly died down, causing the ship to go into silent running mode. The ship gradually drifted into space as the silent abyss surrounded the ship. Inside the ship Garrus sat in the engineering bay tending to the Mako. Joker was relying commands through the comms, but Garrus was inattentive. He was lost in thought. Garrus' mind wandered to all of the crazy adventures him and Commander Shepard had gone through. They had fought of Saren, taken down a large population of Geth, and destroyed a Reaper, and now they were once again flying through space in pursuit of another adventure.

Garrus could hear Joker calling out some more things now, but still he didn't really care. He walked over to Ashley and began to look at some of the weapons she had been fixing up. He could immediately pick out two of the weapons, one a Lancer class III Assault Rifle, probably one she had just recently used, and the other, a Striker V class Sniper Rifle, his own. He had grown used to using that rifle. He was surprised to see Ashley working on it.

"Ashley," Garrus called out to her, "it's nice to see you working on my Striker." Ashley gave him a head nod that indicated it wasn't a problem. Ashley always had a standoff attitude. It seemed the only person she really got along with was Commander Shepard. Garrus began to think Ashley just didn't like aliens. She seemed to be like a majority of humans and wrote off aliens before even giving them a chance. Garrus knew what it was like. He had plenty opportunity with those kind of people on the Citadel.

He was glad his Striker was getting attended to. That Sniper Rifle was special to him. He had named the gun _Nightmare_. He had gotten it back when he was in C-Sec. His commanding officer had come by his station one day and given him the gun.

He said, "Vakarian this is one hell of a Sniper Rifle, it's a nightmare to your enemies."

"Thank you sir," Garrus told him, but in his mind he was thinking, "_Nightmare, huh?"_

When he arrived at his apartment that afternoon he etched into the side of the gun the word Nightmare. It was now his and he would use it forever. The gun had improved scope, more firepower, and less recoil, but the overload rate was quick and rate of fire was slow. If he did his job though he would never have to worry about that though. Not only was the gun improved in power, but also in aesthetics as well. The gun had a nice metallic blue finish, one that matched Garrus' armor. The gun looked very sleek and was incredibly light. He added some more customization later, but the gun was still almost the same gun he had gotten from C-sec all those years ago.

"Prepare for evasive maneuvers," rand throughout the comm. system. Garrus had no ide what was going on, until he felt the Normandy swerve to the right. He was flung to the right as well, catching himself on the nearby pillar. He watched as Ashley was caught off guard and flung to the floor. He dashed to help her, but then was flung forward when Joker cut hard to the right. He had no idea what they were avoiding, but it must've been dangerous.

Joker said some more things over the comm. system, but Garrus couldn't make out what he said anyway. He got back to hit, just to be flung to the ground again as he felt the ship rock when something crashed into it. The engineering deck was then suddenly ripped apart as a huge particle beam ripped into it. Garrus backed away from the huge hole that was now in the roof. He now saw what the big problem was. A huge ship, one which he couldn't identify loomed over the Normandy. Garrus saw Liara run down to the engineering deck, and following behind her was most of the rest of the crew.

"Into escape shuttles, Now!" she screamed out to everyone on the bottom deck. They hurried into the escape pods, three of them total. Garrus, Liara, Wrex, Tali, and Ashley helped the rest of the crew into the first two pods.

"Where's Shepard?" Tali asked what was on all their minds.

"She's going to help Joker, but we have to get out of here," she responded.

"We have to wait for the Commander!" Garrus shouted.

"No time!" Liara responded as she pushed the rest of the crew into the last escape pod and shut the door. She hit a series of buttons and the shuttle became dislodged from the ship and shot off into the vast emptiness of space.

Garrus looked out of the window of the pod and watched as the Normandy got hit by another beam, and he could now clearly see the ship it was firing from. It was a massive ship, bigger than any he had ever seen. The ship was at least twenty times the size of the Normandy. It almost looked like a massive rock with small antenna like things jutting out of it. He had no idea who or what would be piloting such a thing. Garrus watched as the Normandy got torn apart from the blast. Everyone else was talking amongst themselves and trying to figure out what was going on, but Garrus was focused on the Normandy.

Just as it looked like all hope was lost, he saw another pod eject from the ship and fly towards their location. Simultaneously he saw a helmeted figure drifting into space and immediately knew that Shepard hadn't made it out alive. He decided not to say anything, but he knew that wherever the landed the meeting between them all was not going to be a happy one.


	2. Making Friends with the Locals

**Chapter 1: Making Friends with the Locals**

Garrus saw a large Garden planet come into view. The escape pod was rapidly descending towards the planet's surface. Garrus watched carefully on the surface of the planet to see if there was any activity down on the surface. Garrus didn't see anything important going on down there. He noticed a group of creatures, which appeared to be Salarians, traveling from one end of a grassy plain to the other. He watched as animals grazed in the plains below. The grass beneath was a lush green and he could see many shimmering lakes dotting the surface. He peered off into the distance and saw mountain ranges lining the horizon.

He identified the planet as Erinle, home to a Salarian colony and a thriving spaceport. He knew he was in the Osun galaxy now. He did extensive research on planets while in C-sec. He was able to identify well-known planets with relative ease now. As they grew closer he began to see that at this rate they were going to land near one of buildings in the Salarian colony. The Salarians would not take kindly to an unidentified ship landing in the midst of their colony. Garrus knew that the crew was in for a fight down on the surface. He looked to see where the other escape pods were and noticed they were probably about 10 standard galactic minutes from crashing into a Salarian colony completely undefended.

"Crap," Garrus said aloud, "the rest of the crew is going to land into a Salarian colony undefended."

"You think the Salarians will attack, Garrus?" Ashley questioned.

"Would you attack if an unidentified ship landed right by your colony?" Garrus asked sarcastically.

Ashley looked at him, "okay you win, but what can we do?"

"Let's just hope they stay in their escape pod until we land," Garrus replied. He picked up _Nightmare_, which he had taken just before he evacuated, changed the battery pack in his kinetic shields, put on his signature blue visor, and braced himself for impact in a few minutes. The rest of the crew followed suit and mounted up, ready for a battle.

"Who's taking point?" Ashley asked.

"I'll snipe, so I'll take the rear, I say Wrex and Ashley take point and Liara and Tali can provide support from the left and right flanks. When we land come out in formation and then split and find cover. We'll worry about the rest of the crew once we take down the Salarians. Only fire if they fire first!" Garrus shouted out commands to the rest of the crew.

"Who put you in charge?" Ashley smiled and joked with Garrus.

"You want to survive don't you, then follow my orders," Garrus responded in all seriousness.

Garrus saw that the other escape pod had landed on the planet's surface now, and they were going to be landing very shortly. He tried to relay a command over his radio; almost certain he wouldn't be able to find a frequency that would work. He was right. He cursed under his breath, looked back and saw Joker's pod descending just a little behind their own, and knew that once they cleared out the Salarians, the reunion was not going to be a happy one.

The ship landed with a thud and just as planned, when the door opened Wrex and Ashley charged out with their Assault Rifles ready. Following to the left and right was Tali and Liara, biotics and tech at the ready. Garrus came out from the ship slightly training _Nightmare _on the head of what appeared to be a Salarian general.

At that moment Wrex was probably the most intimidating thing Garrus had ever seen. Wrex was an eight foot tall Krogan Battlemaster who had biotic abilities and a mastery of assault rifles. Krogan's were a reptilian race with large hands and feet that could easily crush a man. His beady red eyes pierced the very heart of the unfortunate Salarians. His mouth was turned up into a snarl and Garrus could hear a low growl emitting from the Krogan. His back was hunched a little, like all krogans, but it didn't make him look any less threatening. Wrex had even defeated the Threser Maw, which had not been done in years.

Ashley was not quite as fierce, but was more gentle and serene. Still she gave off the expression of a hardened warrior not to be tangled with. She had bright blue eyes and wore a tight fitting blue alliance uniform. She moved with an immense amount of grace and agility. She held her rifle at the best possible spot so she could quickly get off a shot if needed.

Just as Garrus had suspected he caught a glimpse of two or three Salarians with their weapons loaded and ready to fire. They were surrounding the general, like bodyguards. Garrus knew Salarians weren't warriors. They were usually doctors or other professions that required a lot of thinking or mental actions. Salarians were known for their fast thinking and talking, not their powers in combat like Krogans. Still Garrus had learned not to underestimate his enemies.

The general was a common looking Salarian, tall, a long, thin head, and his complexion was a light tan, one of the more common colors of Salarians. He was decorated with a few medals, but nothing spectacular as far as Garrus could tell.

He could tell the general was telling his soldiers to mobilize on Garrus and his troops. He made a signal to Wrex and Ashley, signaling them to break for cover. Wrex fired a few shots in the direction of the Salarians, but made sure none of them hit a target. Even though Wrex wasn't a big fan of Garrus, Garrus knew that Wrex wouldn't shoot until shot at. That was Garrus's order and even Wrex would follow that. The Salarians were caught off-guard and scrambled trying to get their guns back in line with the Krogan.

By the time they had gotten ready Wrex and Ashley had broken rank and were now covering behind some large rocks that littered the area. Tali and Liara had followed suit, both hiding behind a nearby building. Garrus could see about six troops outside along with the general. This was a colony so he knew there would be more, but maybe after he took out the first six the general would surrender. Garrus hoped to resolve this with as little bloodshed as possible. The general and his two bodyguards were the farthest targets, with the rest of the troops hiding behind pillars of rock, just like Wrex and Ashley.

"Keep the general alive!" Garrus shouted as loud as he could, hoping everyone could hear him. The Salarian would be a lot more useful alive rather than dead. Garrus moved his gun slightly to the right and lined up his shot with the right bodyguard first. Garrus squeezed the trigger slowly, exhaling as he did. The bullet flew straight into the head of the Salarian causing him to let out a groan in pain. He immediately dropped to the ground. Garrus quickly reloaded his Sniper Rifle and brought it back up to his shoulder. He got down into an army crawl position and rested the gun on the escape ramp of the ship. He looked down the sights again to see nothing. The general and the other Salarian had either dropped back into the colony or hid behind some nearby cover.

He watched through the scope in the area the Salarian had been, just hoping he would pop out so Garrus could drop him. Garrus saw nothing. Then in another second Garrus saw a figure floating into the air, and he knew it to be the other Salarian. Garrus lined up his shot precisely and without ever second guessing himself he pulled the trigger sending an armor piercing round strait into the Salarians head. The bullet then emerged out the other side and Garrus watched as the Salarian fell to the ground in a pool of blood.

In the corner of his eye Garrus spotted another Salarian flanking Wrex, who was focused on a soldier hiding behind some cover. Garrus could tell the distraction was working, but he knew he didn't have time to reload his weapon and get it into place. He noticed Tali in the area near the salarian. If he could signal Tali to overload the Salarian's shields he could get a quick shot to the head with his pistol. He motioned to Tali and pointed towards the salarian near Wrex. He pointed to her omni-tool and Tali got the hint and quickly went to her omni-tool, setting up an overload of the Salarian's shields. Garrus drew his pistol and aimed straight for the soon to be unprotected target's head.

Garrus watched waiting for his shields to deactivate thanks to Tali's overload. As soon as he saw the Kinetic barrier crash he pressed the pistols trigger four times in rapid succession. The first bullet lodged into the Salarian's shoulder causing him to let out a scream of pain. The second and third bullets lodged into his arm, causing him to drop his weapon and clutch at the bleeding wound. The final bullet landed straight into his side, making him drop to the ground in writhing pain. Wrex turned to see the sneaky Salarian and showing no mercy; Wrex stomped on his head crushing it beneath his large reptilian foot.

Garrus took a quick survey of the battlefield. A few dead Salarians lay scattered amongst the ground and the few that remained alive hung on for dear life behind cover. The ship had landed just outside an open square of buildings. They could go back, but if they pressed forward they would enter into the Salarian colony. That was it. If Garrus could push them back into their own colony and take them down from the inside, they may not continue to fight back. It would be a risk for the Salarians to fight back against the oncoming force where they may harm women and children.

Garrus gave the command to push forward. He stood up inside the escape pod and waited till he couldn't see any Salarians and darted out into the field. He dashed towards the nearest rock he could find and ducked behind it as a bullet hit his shields. He motioned the rest of the crew forward and told them to push into the building. The crew moved in unison as they charged the remaining Salarians. There was only three left outside, so Garrus assumed the rest of the colony wasn't properly trained in combat. The remaining Salarians quickly retreated when they saw an angry Krogan charging them. Only the general was left outside. He lifted his gun up in the air and called his troops to stand down.

Just as Garrus figured, they couldn't hold out against them, and the general didn't want to lose his whole colony.

"I surrender!" the Salarian shouted to Garrus.

"Stand down," Garrus told the crew.


End file.
